Honors Theses

Date of Award

5-2025

Document Type

Undergraduate Thesis

Degree Name

BA

Department

Psychology

Faculty Mentor

Phillip Smith

Advisor(s)

Laura Powell, Lisa Turner

Abstract

According to the interpersonal theory of suicide, thwarted belonging and perceived burdensomeness are proximal causes of suicidal ideation (Van Orden et al., 2010). Studies show that a lack of social support can lead to higher levels of thwarted belonging and perceived burdensomeness (Sparks et al., 2023). This relationship between social support and suicidal ideation has been studied in the literature, but the relationship between online and in-person social support with suicidal ideation has not. The purpose of the current study is to examine the effects of in-person and online social support on different factors of the interpersonal theory of suicide. We examined the indirect effects of thwarted belonging and perceived burdensomeness on the relationship between social support and suicidal ideation, as well as the bivariate correlations among these variables. The study sample consisted of 313 undergraduate college students who completed online questionnaires. The participants had a mean age of 19.53 (SD = 2.75), with the majority being female (71.9%), and were 70.4% Caucasian, 14.4% African American, 5.8% Asian, and 3.8% Hispanic. Results show that online and in-person social support are significantly correlated with lower levels of suicidal ideation, but this relationship is stronger with in-person social support. The indirect effects are only significant for in-person family support and ideation through perceived burdensomeness. The online support model had no significant effects. These results suggest that there is a difference between in-person and online social support and their effect on suicidal ideation.

Comments

© 2025 Alexander J. Potter ALL RIGHTS RESERVE

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